The Hill:
North Korea could have the capability to fire a missile at the United States by 2020, top Asia-Pacific experts told lawmakers Tuesday.
“It’s a matter of time if nothing changes,” Victor Cha, a Korean expert at the Center For Strategic and International Studies, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“I can’t think of a more proximate threat to our security at this point.”
Cha was responding to a question from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who asked whether it is a matter of time before North Korea has an intercontinental ballistic missile that that can strike American soil.
The panel of experts were skeptical, however, that China will exert economic pressure against North Korea to change its behavior.
“I do not believe China will exert the pressure required to force the North Korean regime to make those fundamental changes,” said Ashley Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, who spoke on the panel.
“We essentially have to prepare for a North Korean capability that will ultimately be able to reach the United States. And if it comes to that point, we have only one of two choices: We continue to hope in the reliability of deterrents, which is dangerous because of the unpredictability of this regime, or we will be forced into military actions, which will be extremely costly and painful.”
